Indian children play with firecrackers during Diwali celebrations in New Delhi.

Indian Sikh devotees light oil lamps at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on the ocassion of Bandi Chhor Divas or Diwali.

Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas or Diwali to mark the return of the
Sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind Ji, who was freed from imprisonment and also
managed to release 52 political prisoners at the same time from Gwalior
fort by Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1619.

Pakistani Hindu revellers wave sparklers on the occasion of Diwali in Karachi.

Pakistani Hindu revellers light earthen lamps on the occasion of Diwali in Karachi.

An Indian worker lights lamps on the premises of the Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, some 30 kms from Ahmedabad, on the occasion of Diwali. The Akshardham Temple is lit with thousands of oil lamps which will continue until November 18.

An Indian girl lights earthen lamps to celebrate Diwali in Allahabad.

An Indian Border Security Force (BSF) soldier lights candles inside a bunker during Diwali at the India-Bangladesh border on the outskirts of Agartala.

Widows gather around a tulsi plant and light oil lamps to celebrate Diwali at a rest house run by a devotee in Bhubaneswar.

An Indian girl holds an earthen lamp and performs rituals on the banks of the Bindu Sagar to celebrate Diwali in Bhubaneswar

A girl decorates the entrance of her home with earthen lamps and colored powder during Diwali festival in Kolkata.

Bollywood star Vivek Oberoi, center wearing red, and his father Suresh Oberoi, seated center, watch trading on Diwali day along with stockbrokers at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in Mumbai.

During Diwali ledgers and new account books are
opened by the mercantile community following a special prayer and
worship before the idols of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi to earn
their blessings.

A staff at an Indian brokerage house places flowers blessed by a priest on a trading terminal before Muhurat Trading - a special trading session on the occasion of Diwali at a brokerage house in Mumbai.